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Etymology: Unknown, probably named after Patot.

Synonyms: None

Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) Order: Perciiformes Family: Belontiidae, subfamily: Macropodinae

First European import: Germany, 1988, by Kettner, Krummenacher & Witte. First discovered by: Stroh(see Betta strohi)

Description: See pictures.

Care: Betta patoti can grow quite large, and shouldn't be kept together with very small fish.

Temperature:23-26°C

Feeding:Omnivorous, live food is preferred, but flake food is accepted.

Size: Up to 12 cm, although I've heard about this fish reaching a considerable length of 20 cm and more.

pH: 5.0-6.5

Breeding: As easy as they are to keep, breeding Betta patoti is a lot more difficult. Many breeding attempts fail, and if breeding occurs, the male usually swallows the eggs after three days. Most likely the attempts fail because the eggs are affected by bad waterconditions. A KH of 1 and a pH of around 5 may help prevent this. I've bred B.patoti in a 40*25*25 tank, in which I placed a single pair, together with lots of plants, a small internal filter, and a temperature of 25 degrees. After breeding, I left the female in the tank. Every time the male wanted to surface for air, the female surfaced first. She didn't harass the male. After 12 days the male released the fry, and after 2 days they totalled around 20. The fry were almost a cm in length. I removed the fry and raised them separately, except for 2 fry I missed. After 1 month the 2 fry were around 2.5 cm. The others were approximately 2 cm.

Sexual dimorphism: males more colorfull, with vertical bands across the body.

Prices:Around 12€ a pair.

Additional:

Picture references:All pictures E. Naus

References:Baensch, H. A., Riehl, R.(1989): Aquarien Atlas III. Mergus Verlag, Melle, Germany.

http://iglnl.netfirms.com/Soortbeschrijvingen/Betta/Betta_patoti.htm

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